An Israeli water company, Hagihon, threatened to cut off water from the Palestinian quarters behind the apartheid wall, eastern occupied Jerusalem, resulting in doubling their suffering and violating their main rights.
Shu’fat camp, Ras Hamees, Ras Shehada and Dahit Alsalam are Palestinian quarters behind the apartheid wall that suffer, for many years, from a suffocating water crisis because of Hagihon’s procedures and their claims that people do not pay water bills.
Abdelkarim shlody, a member of the people’s committee for Sha’fat camp, stated that the Israeli company warned to cut off water from the camp and the neighborhoods, as long as there is no agreement signed with the Ministry of Finance to provide those neighborhoods with water.
He pointed out that Hagihon Company controls the main water line in the camp and the surrounding neighborhoods. Hence, 55000 people suffer from a constant water crisis as a result of the overpopulation, disorderly construction, lack in infrastructure, and Israel’s negligence to provide them with the main services.
“Israel puts pressure on the Jerusalemites to leave and find another place to live in by cutting off water or reducing it,” added he. “Some citizens fulfill their needs by buying water from other places, especially that water demand increases amid the spread of the coronavirus in Jerusalem.”
He also stated that Hagihon’s implementation of cutting off water will pollute the water in which the citizens will try to extended water pipelines randomly to have it.
Shlody also called UNRWA for ending Hagihon’s policy of cutting water towards the Palestinians in Jerusalem, and ending their sufferings resulted from water and other crises.
In a statement sent to Meir Ben Shabbat, Israel’s municipality and officials of Israel’s Ministry of Finance, Head of Hagihon stated that his water company tends to suspend providing the Israeli neighborhoods that lie behind the apartheid wall with water, as long as there is no agreement signed with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Water until the end of this year.
“Ministry of Finance refuses to give the company the fund needed to supply the neighborhoods with water and compensate it for the damage inflicted,” said Hagihon in its statement.
Most quarters of Jerusalem, behind the apartheid wall, do not pay water bills because of the agreements signed between UNRWA and Jordan with Israel, according to Hebrew media.
One third of the Palestinians, living behind the apartheid wall, in Jerusalem live under Israeli occupation and carry Israeli identities.
Families of Sha’fat camp, the surrounding neighborhoods, and human rights associations filed many complaints for Israel’s court to provide the families with water.
Citizen’s Rights Association in Israel considered that water crisis does not only affect the families, but also clinics, educational and health institutions, shops and bakeries. It also violates the main rights of humans; right to water, health, and right to a decent life.
Source : Safa